Movie Review-The Switch

The Switch is not the fast-paced, light-hearted affair that was advertised.The film centers around an event occurring seven years earlier in the film’s timeline. Kassie (Jennifer Aniston) decides to become a single mother and settles on a sperm donor in Roland (Patrick Wilson), a charming, married teacher in need of cash. Kassie’s best friend, Wally (Jason Bateman), falling down drunk at the time, replaces Roland’s seed with his own.Wally blacks out, not remembering a thing. Between then and the film’s present, Kassie lives for seven years in Minnesota with her son, Sebastian (Thomas Robinson). She then moves back to New York and re-establishes her friendship with Wally, who slowly begins to realize that Sebastian is his son.

If this movie had nothing in it but Bateman’s performance, it still would have been enjoyable and emotionally endearing. Bateman’s resigned, almost-masochistic narration throughout the film makes him a great everyman. While he has a very particular personality, few men could say they didn’t empathize with him.

Bateman’s performance, however, only headlines a wide range of qualities that switch this movie from a boring, raunchy romantic comedy into a moving, charming feature. Supported by Robinson and Aniston, Bateman has tremendous on-screen chemistry with both. Also making frequent appearances as Wally’s boss and confidant is Jeff Goldblum, who puts on a performance as witty as any he’s ever given.

All of these performers are tied together by a well-directed script filled to the brim with wonderful dialogue. All of this combines to achieve the goal of any drama to make the audience feel as though they are in the film, and the conflict portrayed on-screen is as real and as pertinent to their lives as any they might experience. And it is certainly much more akin to a drama than a comedy.

While there is some humor here and there, it does nothing to drive the film and is, in most cases, coincidental.

The film is not without its flaws. The music, while part of the charm, does become full of itself at times. The main thing wrong with the film, however, is an ending that doesn’t fit. It seems like a horse’s head placed on a man’s shoulders.

While meant to be encouraging, the film comes off to the audience as hypocritical, attempting to give them the false hope the main character speaks of with disgust earlier in the film.

While the ending feels a bit like a letdown, this film is, for the most part, a charming drama that pulls the audience in and hugs them tight.